Ranji Trophy 2017: Mohammed Shami’s surge at the death puts Bengal in control

Mohammed Shami took time to hit his straps on Thursday. (Source: AP)

Mohammed Shami lit up Eden Gardens towards the fag end of the day. The late afternoon shadows lengthened as the Bengal fast bowler imposed himself on the Himachal Pradesh batsmen. The second day’s play of this Ranji Trophy match had been meandering along until Shami provided the spark.

Shami took time to hit his straps on Thursday. His first spell, during which he gave away 52 runs in eight overs without success, looked like lacking in intensity. He was bowling a little short and offering width. Himachal Pradesh captain Sumeet Verma gained the upper hand over the India star during his lovely cameo – 64 off 59 balls. A couple of off-drives bordered on the contemptuous.

The visitors were responding strongly to Bengal’s first innings total of 419 all out. But Verma played a poor shot against back-up seamer Mukesh Kumar and a window opened. Bengal captain Manoj Tiwary smartly brought back his fast bowling spearhead from the High Court end.

Shami went full tilt. A beauty of a leg-cutter bewitched Paras Dogra, the ball squaring up the batsman and taking the outside edge to Wriddhiman Saha behind the stumps. The delivery could have got any Test batsman out.

The SG Test ball didn’t hold up well on the day. It lost shape pretty early into the Himachal Pradesh innings and had to be changed. It virtually ruled out any early reverse swing.

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Also Eden’s lush green outfield didn’t make the leather abrasive. Shami stuck to the conventional variety. He started to exceed the 140kph mark.

Opener Priyanshu Khanduri was playing the role of a sheet-anchor. But after scoring 52 off 120 balls, a Shami yorker trapped him plumb in front – beaten for pace.

The umpires brought out the light meter but allowed one more over from the Clubhouse end that saw Ashok Dinda bag his second wicket. From 124 for two, Himachal Pradesh slumped to 163 for five at stumps. Shami’s second spell read: 5-2-22-2.

“Shami is the best five-day bowler in the country. Today he was a bit off colour initially and also, we batted well during that period. But Shami was always going to bounce back,” Himachal Pradesh head coach Vikram Rathour told The Indian Express. Tiwary concurred.

Earlier, the Bengal captain scored his 24th first-class hundred, making 123 off 223 balls. For Himachal Pradesh, Rishi Dhawan put in a much-improved show, returning with 4/86 from 31 overs.

Brief scores: Bengal 419 all out in 121.3 overs (M Tiwary 123; R Dhawan 4/86) vs HP 163/5 in 39.3 overs (S Verma 64; A Dinda 2/39, M Shami 2/74)